Babb's marketing of his film incorporated old-style medicine show techniques, and used unique promotions to build an audience.

[8] Mom and Dad tells the story of Joan Blake (June Carlson), a young woman who falls for the pilot Jack Griffin (Bob Lowell).

Blackburn blames her mother for the problem, and accuses her of "neglect[ing] the sacred duty of telling their children the real truth."

[2][9] The film then presents reels and charts that include graphic images of the female anatomy and footage of live births – one natural and one Caesarian.

Mom and Dad is believed to have had a number of endings, although most typically concluded with the birth of the young woman's child, sometimes stillborn and other times put up for adoption.

Eric Schaefer notes that the "primary purpose" of the plot of Mom and Dad was to "serve as the vehicle onto which the spectacle of the clinical reels can be grafted", such as the live birth scene.

This strategy often utilized fabricated letters supposedly written by the mayor of a nearby city, who wished to register concern about local young women in his area who had seen the film and were awakened enough to discuss problems similar to ones of their own.

[2] Babb's marketing strategy centered on overwhelming small towns with advertisements and letters, in an attempt to create a controversial atmosphere.

In keeping with his motto of "You gotta tell 'em to sell 'em,"[2] the film became so ubiquitous that Time wrote that its presentation "left only the livestock unaware of the chance to learn the facts of life.

[16] In some predominantly African-American areas, Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens was hired to make appearances instead of an actor playing Forbes.

The text was written by Babb's wife,[19] and was filled with both biological and sexual education materials relevant to the film's subject matter; generating extra profit items for their distributors.

A contractual agreement disallowed matinée pricing, set specific times for the segregated viewings, and prohibited the screening of the film on Sundays.

In 1948, Universal produced a similar film, The Story of Bob and Sally, but was unable to screen it due to the production code, and eventually sold the rights.

[25] The volume of imitations led to the formation of Modern Film Distributors, a group of exploitation filmmakers, in an effort to minimize booking conflicts.